Ablative armor

Ablative armor is a protective material that functions by expending the energy of destructive forces on degrading the armor itself instead of whatever the armor protects.

A good example is the heat-shield used to protect space capsules and missiles returning to Earth from outside the atmosphere. An ablative coating on the re-entry vehicle vaporizes at high temperatures, expending the heat from friction with the atmosphere to keep the vehicle itself from growing too hot and melting.

Ablative armor is the standard armor used on starships in Mass Effect. Starships in Mass Effect rely on such armor for protection against energy weapons, as their other defenses (kinetic barriershielding and GARDIAN point defenselasers) do nothing to stop energy weapons such as particle beams and lasers.

"Silaris armor" is the most advanced type of ablative armor in the setting; it is composed of carbon compressed to ultra-high density with mass effect fields.